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23andMe's "Portraits of Health" advertising campaign, the company's first, includes national television, radio and digital spots to educate consumers about how personalized genetic testing can help them make better-informed health care decisions. This is the first time 23andMe has pursued an advertising campaign, and the group says it hopes to reach 1 million people by year's end.

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Genetech will use data from 23andMe's database to develop treatments for Parkinson's disease in a deal worth an initial $10 million plus the potential for another $50 million in milestone payments to 23andMe. Some 12,000 Parkinson's patients along with 1,300 of their family members belong to 23andMe's community, and Genentech will be asking for 3,000 of these community members to have their full genomes sequenced at Genentech's expense.

Pfizer and DNA testing firm 23andMe agreed to collaborate to uncover possible genetic mutations associated with inflammatory bowel disease. 23andMe will analyze saliva samples of 10,000 people with either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. "Our research objective is to understand the genetic associations found between IBD patients' DNA and their disease, and apply this understanding to Pfizer's drug development efforts," 23andMe said in a prepared statement.

The FDA accepted genetic testing firm 23andMe's application for approval of a test for Bloom syndrome last month, moving the firm a step closer to reassuring the agency that its genetic health predictors are accurate. Congress has considered several bills recently that would limit the FDA's power to regulate some health technologies, and Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA's director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, recently sat with 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki on a congressional panel. "FDA understands and supports people's interest in having access to their genetic information and believes such information can help them make more informed choices about their health -- so long as that genetic information is accurate -– that the results are correct, meaningful and written in a way that consumers can understand," Shuren wrote in a subsequent blog post.

23andMe's "Portraits of Health" advertising campaign, the company's first, includes national television, radio and digital spots to educate consumers about how personalized genetic testing can help them make better-informed health care decisions. The campaign was created by Havas shop Arnold Worldwide, and Buck directed the newly launched TV spots.

Personal genetics startup firm 23andMe announced that its co-founder Linda Avey is leaving to establish an Alzheimer's disease foundation that will use the company's research platform to identify causes and search for new treatments. Avey created 23andMe with Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.